Fewer Lies, Better Health?

Aug. 6, 2012 -- People who make an effort to lie less say they have better relationships and report fewer health complaints, according to new research.

"Our findings support the notion that lying less can cause better health through improving relationships," says researcher Anita Kelly, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame. "Improvements in the relationships accounted for a significant improvement in health."

Although other research has focused on how to detect a lie or how often people lie, Kelly wanted to look at whether she could convince people to lie less, then look at the effects of less lying.

She presented her research at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Orlando.

Our Lying Selves

On average, Americans lie about 11 times a week, says Kelly, citing surveys by others.

Some of those are whoppers. Other are white lies, often meant to spare feelings or save face.

Kelly and her co-researcher, Lijuan Wang, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, assigned 110 people, aged 18 to 71, to one of two groups.

Both groups came to the lab each week to take a polygraph test.

One group was encouraged to stop telling major and minor lies for the 10-week study. The researchers suggested strategies for lying less, such as declining to answer questions.

The comparison group got no special instructions about lying. They were simply told that they would have to tell the researchers how many lies they had told that week when they were given the lie detector test.

Each group answered questions about their close relationships and about their mental and physical health each week.

For instance, they reported if they had trouble falling asleep or had headaches.

Lying and Health: Study Results

Over the 10-week study, both groups lied less. However, the group told they couldn't lie told fewer lies than the comparison group.

By week 10, the no-lie group was telling, on average, less than one white lie, down from more than three in week two. The comparison group was still telling more than three, down from nearly six in week two.